How to Jump a mountain bike beginner tutorial _ Skills With Phil

Hey guys what's up? So today we're going to be learning about how to jump along with looking at a few common mistakes riders make when starting out. Jumping is a combination of pumping and the American bunny hop. So before you learn how to jump be sure you understand how to pump. It is also useful to understand what is happening in the air. So let's first break down the body mechanics behind jumping. So if you've watched a video on how to do the American bunny hop you will know that there are three movements that get you into the air. The The movements for jumping are the same but this time you have an incline assisting you into the air. Now let's take a more in-depth look at each of these movements. The first phase of jumping is called a pop. To do this preload before the incline by crouching down and lowering your chest. As your front wheel starts going up the incline shift your weight backwards and over your pedals. When your back wheel reaches the base of the incline explode upwards while applying backwards pressure on your bars and guiding the front wheel into the air. As your back wheel goes up incline continue to explode upwards and stand tall while rowing your bars into your lap. Something that might help you understand this better is thinking of your bike as a lever. The backwards pressure on your bars combined with driving through your legs rotates the bike and pushes you upwards. The quicker and more explosive this movement is the higher you will jump. The second and third phase is called the scoop and shove. When your back wheel leaves the lip curl your toes around your pedal and scoop upwards absorbing your bike up into your body. This is where running a low seat can really help. While you're scooping shove the bike in front of you to help level off. Then just let your body relax and get ready for the landing. As with any skill bike setup can make things easier. If possible use a bike with an aggressive geometry that will allow you to lower your seat and maximize the range of your body movement. Next use platform pedals. If you find your feet coming off the pedals this is a sign that your technique needs some work. Now let's look at a few different ways you can learn how to jump your bike. Here I'm using a piece of plywood and cinder blocks to create a ramp. Get a feel for the ramp by approaching it slowly and then rolling it. This will get you comfortable with the ramp and test its structural integrity. When you're comfortable approach the ramp with more speed. Aim to get both wheels off the ground at the same time. Remember to maintain slight backwards pressure on your bars and shift your weight to your feet to guide your front wheel into the air. Focus on landing gently with both wheels at the same time and getting comfortable absorbing the impact. So after that make a line into ground and see if you can jump past it. Every time you're successful move the line back and repeat the process. Once you've been able to jump a few feet now it's time to work on your height. To challenge yourself use something to jump over. In this case I'm using a cone which is a little rigid which almost caused me to crash so think about using something soft like a bag. This time we're going to use a dirt hill. It's roughly two to five feet tall and has a 30 to 45 degree incline. A steep transition will make it easier to get airborne and a nice flat landing will minimize your chance of crashing and getting hurt. Once again get comfortable with the transition by simply rolling it a few times. Once you get comfortable with the incline try to get your wheels off the ground and eventually work your way up to jumping over a small object. When you have achieved that now it is finally time to take what you've learned to a jump. My recommendation is to start with a tabletop. It is the safest type of jump to learn on because the consequences for not clearing it are minimal. However there are a few tricks to land smoothly. The first is to match the angle of your wheel base to the slope of the landing and the second is to think about landing as silently as possible. That may seem silly but As with anything there are a few common mistakes riders make when learning how to jump. Many clipless riders will try yanking the bike up as if they were doing an English bunny hop. You should not have to pull your back wheel up as the takeoff will naturally propel your back wheel into the air. When learning how to jump with a full suspension bike your back wheel might get kicked up a bit too much sending you nose heavy. You may be able to counteract that by slowing down your rebound and also adding a few clicks of compression damping. So I hope that helps. If you have any questions about this skill or any other skills leave your questions in the comments below. I'll have a text version of this video up on my website with some additional information that I won't be able to fit in the video. As always my name is Phil Kmetz. Thanks for playing bikes with me today and I'll see you next time.